Private London by James Patterson

Author:James Patterson [Patterson, James]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Thrillers, Private Investigators, Suspense, London (England), Fiction
ISBN: 9781846058325
Google: bRGgu4bN9pkC
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2011-06-01T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 59

IT WAS QUIET in the hospital.

But somehow it was still full of sound. Machines in the background. Monitoring equipment beating out a steady rhythm. Life going on. Footfalls in distant corridors. Snoring.

I opened the door to the intensive-care room and walked in. The woman sitting on the chair at the head of the bed looked up at me and smiled. She was pleased to see me, at least. The smile made me feel good for a moment, but only for that instant. The sight of my unconscious god-daughter kind of took the fun out of it for me.

“Mister Carter,” the woman said.

“It’s Dan, please, Professor Weston,” I replied.

“In which case you had better call me Annabelle.”

She smiled again but I couldn’t smile back. The young woman lying on the bed deserved my entire focus. And Annabelle could prove to be too much of a distraction. Maybe when things got back on an even keel I could try the full Dan Carter charm offensive on her. But for now I had to be all about business. Strictly professional. No time for romance.

I was wrong about that, as it turned out. But not in the way I expected.

I looked down at Chloe. Her eyes still closed. Her breathing even. “Have there been any developments?” I asked Annabelle.

The professor shook her head. “The registrar was just here with Chloe’s mother. Chloe is stable but still in a coma.”

“Where is Barbara now?”

“She’s gone to get us some tea.”

Barbara Smith, née Lehman, had driven down overnight from North Scotland, where she had moved a year ago. She’d set out as soon as she had heard what had happened to her daughter. Her new husband Martin Lehman worked in the petrochemical industry and was moved around the country every few years or so. Martin Lehman didn’t like me and I wasn’t, to tell the truth, too disappointed that he hadn’t accompanied his wife.

“I just thought I’d check in on Chloe.” Annabelle gestured sadly at some fruit in a bowl on the bedside cabinet. “Bit of a cliché, I know.”

“I’m sure she’ll be grateful when she wakes up.”

The professor nodded and stood up. She was still dressed casually in jeans and a sweater. Still looked a million dollars.

“I’d better leave you to it. I don’t think the ward sister will like a crowd in here.”

“It was good of you to come.”

Annabelle shook her head. “Chloe’s one of our students. I’m her tutor.”

“Even so.”

“She’s a very bright girl. Very brave too, from what I hear. She nearly fought them off.”

“They weren’t playing by the Queensberry Rules.”

“No.”

She leaned down to smooth Chloe’s hair.

“I take it you have no news yourself,” she said.

“No,” I said. Lying as smoothly as a politician. “But Hannah Shapiro’s father will be here tomorrow morning. Maybe the kidnappers will make contact then.”

“Annabelle looked at me, a little surprised. “You still think that this is what it was, then? A straightforward kidnapping? Why haven’t they been in contact? Made a ransom demand?”

“I don’t know.”

That’s the

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